The Nadi Sentinel
Squad20 Nov 2034
The knee: Michael Woud out for 123 days
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nadi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad20 Nov 2034
The season belongs to Buba Sanneh
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Nadi have had the benefit of it.
Squad20 Nov 2034
A falling-out at Nadi
Gabriel Popovic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
Wages swallow 328% of the Nadi income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
Nadi cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Alex Bolton gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Nadi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael McCowatt is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market20 Nov 2034
Nadi buy the years ahead of Lucas Lloyd
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market20 Nov 2034
Nadi sign Matt Reid, one for the future
Matt Reid is 19, and Nadi have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
- Market Nadi buy the years ahead of Mark Clark
- Market Nadi buy the years ahead of Dylan White
- The dugout Michael Woud knocks on the manager’s door